


You Let Your Feet Run Wild

by anD_nOw_tHe_wEaThEr (CryMeARiver3465)



Series: Way Down We Go [1]
Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Cassius Sencen's A+ Parenting, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Fitz Vacker is a good bro, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mostly hurt tho ngl, Payback, The Author Regrets Nothing, Verbal Abuse, endgame sophie/keefe, no beta we die like men, read if you wanna watch cassius get punched
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:54:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29921331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CryMeARiver3465/pseuds/anD_nOw_tHe_wEaThEr
Summary: Sophie Foster can take a good deal of this. She knows how.But not this much.There is a certain point where you need to strike back, and Cassius Sencen has decided to push her exactly that far.~~~In which Cassius Sencen gets what's coming to him.
Relationships: Keefe Sencen & Biana Vacker, Sophie Foster & Keefe Sencen, Sophie Foster/Fitz Vacker, Sophie Foster/Keefe Sencen
Series: Way Down We Go [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2200398
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	You Let Your Feet Run Wild

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I've re-posted this work under a different account! Hope you enjoy(or re-enjoy, perhaps) this story that was written for the sole purpose of venting anger. 
> 
> PLEASE heed the tags. If those themes are triggering, watch your back, and tread with caution! Stay safe! Summary in end notes!

Sophie stood, far too stiff, across from Forkle, Keefe, and Lord Cassius Sencen. Watching. Waiting, wondering if it was legal to kill people just for existing.

She decided it probably was. But that did nothing to disperse her rage.

Cassius Sencen’s hand was on Keefe’s arm, in a way that to anyone else, any other father-son duo, would have seemed innocent enough, kind enough, fatherly enough.

Between any two other people, it would have seemed downright loving.

But not between these two. Keefe looked like he was going to lose his lunch all over his shoes, honestly, and Sophie wanted to do anything to make it stop. Just make him stop hurting. Then, Cassius opened his mouth, and his words started to wash over the surrounding people, and cut Sophie straight to the heart. “Honestly,” he was saying, when Keefe’s eyes slid from hers to the ground, “My son is a disgrace. Anyone who has moderately functioning eyes would be able to see that.”

Sophie wanted a knife. Or a gun. Or some brass knuckles, at the very least. She clenched her hands into fists, reminding herself once again that murder is illegal, and murdering her best-friend’s father would not be a good idea.

Keefe wilted, and the movement fueled the fire in her chest. 

“... if I had wanted such a child i could have plucked one out of Exilium, honestly…”

Lord Cassius was not talking to her, but to Mr. Forkle, as though Keefe’s friends, and her, and Keefe himself weren’t even there. “...why could you possibly want this practical child in your ranks, Forkle?”

Forkle, seemingly unperturbed by Cassius’s degrading of his son, said, quite easily, “He’s a better empath than you are, Cassius.”

Cassius snorted. “He could be, if he bothered to put an ounce of study into his talent.”

Forkle shrugged. “He seems to have a good enough handle on it as is.”

“Yes, but it is haphazard, lackluster. It is exactly like him, to abandon his studies for something less worthwhile.”

Keefe shrunk even more. Sophie probably had crescents from her nails digging into the middle of her palms. She shot a glance at Tam, who was lurking in the shadows, listening, and looking ready to drown Cassius in shadow whispers and haunting nightmares. Linh had one of her hands gripped tightly around her other wrist, tears glimmering in her eyes. This couldn’t be healthy for either of them, knowing they’d had similar treatment from their parents. 

Biana and Fitz scowled openly at Cassius, and Sophie felt something grow lighter in her heart as she looked at the teal-eyed telepath. Good for him, getting angry over something important, this time. She cursed herself for that thought. That was not something she should have been thinking about her boyfriend.

She turned her focus back to Keefe, and saw in the background that Dex’s mouth was hanging open in completely disgusted shock.

“... I think he should come home with me at once, Forkle, this is not the place for him, not now, and not ever, and I daresay that he will not be back very quickly. He needs more training, he needs to realize what kind of person he is, and he needs to stop consorting with…” Cassius’s lips pursed. “Well.”

“Oh, do you think?” Sophie barged in, her rage unable to be contained anymore. “Is that right?”

“Yes, Miss Foster, I--”

“It’s Miss Foster-Ruewen, thank you.”

“Yes, Miss _Foster-Ruewen_. It is in everyone’s best interest that I remove my son from your premises.”

“And why is that, exactly? He’s the most powerful empath any of us have ever met, he has never let us down--”

Cassius’s snort made Sophie roll her shoulders back and clench her fists tighter. She unconsciously fell into a fighting stance, spreading her feet apart, and setting her arms at her sides. Biana shot her a sadistic grin of approval. “The earliest chance my son got, he abandoned this Black Swan for the Neverseen.”

Keefe flinched, full on, hard, and Sophie snapped back, sharply, “He came back, didn’t he? Unlike your wife.”

Keefe flinched at that, too, but Cassius’s face erupted into an image of complete scorn. He was one of those emojis people only used in comments sections when they had the spelling skills of a four year old. Sophie had struck a nerve. “My wife’s choices are no reflection of mine--”

“And your son’s, somehow, are? That doesn’t make any sense, Cassius.”

“Anything and everything he does will reflect on me and my family name, and I will not stand for his conduct to be carried on like it is right now. He will return home with me, and he will never rejoin your ranks again.”

Sophie’s shoulders dropped in time with Keefe’s. But then she stiffened. “I don’t think that--”

“But, Miss Foster, I am the only one here whose thoughts about my son have any sort of power. You are his friend, and nothing more.”

“What do you think will happen if we were to need him and--”

“What do you think will happen to the my reputation--” here Biana, Tam, Linh, and Keefe all flinched, “If he is allowed to continue frollicking about the countryside, acting so irresponsibly and bringing the full brunt of his shame and disgrace down upon everyone not only here but back in the cities as well?”

Sophie was seeing red. “What do you think will happen if I let the cities in on your repulsive treatment of your son?”

The man snorted. “Do you think he hasn’t tried, before? Played that silly little blame game, said that I hated him, said that I tore him to shreds. Let me ask you if anyone has thought he was telling the truth.”

Sophie was probably bleeding from how tight she was clenching her fists. She whipped around, so that she wouldn’t do something ridiculous like unleash her entire inflicting power on Cassius.

“Exactly my point, Forkle,” the man said, and Sophie looked up from the fiery ground to glare at the crimson trees in front of her, “Even Miss Foster cannot find it in herself to rebuke me. She knows I am right.”

And Sophie whipped around and before anyone could blink, snarled, “What do you think of this?” 

She slammed her fist into Cassius Sencen’s jaw with an extremely satisfying thud. The adult’s hand flew to where she’d struck him, and she glared up into his face. “That,” she snarled, “Is for abusing your son.” She kneed him in the gut, “That is for making him feel worthless.”

She jerked his hand off of Keefe’s shoulder, and gently pulled her friend away from his horrible father, her touches so gentle that Keefe blinked up at her, almost dazedly. She gently brushed him towards Fitz and Biana. 

She whirled around, towards the shocked lord, and decided that since she was doing this, she may as well do it right. She pulled her hand back and punched him again, right in the nose. He cried out, clutching his now bleeding nose. “And that,” she said, sharply, “Is for not loving him the way he deserves.”

Then, without another word, she whirled away, marching over to her group of friends, who were walking as far away from Cassius as they could get, not stopping for Mr. Forkle’s shocked “Sophie!” or Cassius’s snarled, “Miss Foster, I beg your pardon!”

She had more important things to do.

Keefe Sencen needed the world’s biggest hug, and the largest slice of mallowmelt.

**Author's Note:**

> Summary:
> 
> Cassius Sencen is emotionally abusing Keefe in front of the gang+ Mr. Forkle. He says he's going to take Keefe home with him, and Sophie steps in and argues that Keefe is amazing. Cassius retaliates and pushes back, and Sophie, angry, punches him in the face, and pulls Keefe away. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to scream at me in the comments!


End file.
